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John R Clarke

Associate Faculty
— PhD,
Yale

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Biography

Professor Clarke received his Ph.D. from Yale University. In 1980 he began teaching at The University of Texas at Austin, where his teaching, research, and publications focus on ancient Roman art, art-historical methodology, and contemporary art.

Clarke has seven books, and 78 essays, articles, and reviews to his credit. His first book, Roman Black-and-White Figural Mosaics, appeared in 1979. In 1991 The Houses of Roman Italy, 100 B.C.-A.D. 250: Ritual, Space, and Decoration appeared. Fruit of ten years' on-site research at Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Ostia Antica, the book analyzes the imagery of wall painting and mosaics in 17 houses to gain an understanding of the owners' tastes and beliefs. In 1998 Looking at Lovemaking: Constructions of Sexuality in Roman Art, 100 B.C.-A.D. 250 was published; it is a study of how erotic art can reveal ancient Roman attitudes toward love, gender, and race.

In 2003 two books appeared: Art in the Lives of Ordinary Romans: Visual Representation and Non-elite Viewers in Italy, 100 B.C.-A.D. 315 (University of California Press) and Roman Sex, 100 B.C.-A.D. 250 (Abrams). Art in the Lives of Ordinary Romans investigates how art made by or for the lower strata of Roman society encodes individuals' identity and their attitudes toward the practices of everyday life. Roman Sex expands the arguments of Looking at Lovemaking, including chapters on women's liberation in first-century A.D. Rome and new sexual representations from Roman France.

Two books appeared in 2007: Looking at Laughter: Humor, Power, and Transgression in Roman Visual Culture, 100 B.C.-A.D. 250 (California) and Roman Life, 100 B.C.-A.D. 200 (Abrams). Looking at Laughter examines the intersection of class and humor in a variety of settings, including public spectacle, tavern paintings, and graffiti. Roman Life is geared to non-specialist readers. It follows individuals known to us from archaeological evidence through the events of their daily lives; an interactive CD-ROM that allows the user to explore the richly decorated House of the Vettii at Pompeii, comes with the book.

Currently Clarke is co-director of the Oplontis Project, a collaboration with the Archaeological Superintendency of Pompeii and the King’s Visualisation Lab, King’s College, London. The Oplontis Project will furnish a comprehensive publication of this huge luxury villa (50 B.C.-A.D. 79), with all the research findings keyed to a navigable, 3D digital model. Support for the project includes a Collaborative Research Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Clarke served on the Board of Directors of the College Art Association (1991-2001), and was President from 1998-2000. Since 2000 he has been a member of the Board of Directors of the American Council of Learned Societies, serving, since 2004, as Vice-Chair of the Board.